Dress form



J. McCARTHY.

DRESS FORM. APPLICATION FILEIYOCT. 22, 1919.

Patented Aug. 15, 1922.

IIVI/E/VTOR ATTORNEY form with the parts in the. position they ocv JAMES MCCARTHY, or LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YQRK, ASSIGNOR TO nenniaoaoirnn'r DRESS FORM COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION'OF NEW JERSEY.

DRESS FORM.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t t A110. 15, 1 20,"

Application filed-October 22, 1919. Serial No. 332,513.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES MCCARTHY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Long Island City, in the county of Queens and State of New York,'ha.ve invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dress Forms of which the following is a specification. 4 r

This invention involves certain improvements in dress'forms and more particularly .that'type of dress form in which there is a body or manikin of the desired size and shape and formed of comparatively stiff papier macheor other similar material whereby a light and rigid body is" formed upon which tliedress or other clothing may be fitted. One ofthe main objects of my invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive support by means of which the body may be held at the desired elevation or'may be compactly telescoped with the support for shipment orstorage. i

A further object of my invention is'to so construct and design the support that the form may be easily and quickly removed therefrom and placed on a table or other flat supporting surface and used in that position.

A further'object of my invention is to facilitate a proper and symmetrical fitting of the garment to the form and the exact center line up and down the front and back,

accurately determined even when the form is entirely or substantially concealed within the garment.

In the accompanying drawings to which referenceis to be had, I have illustrated certain embodiments of my invention but it will, of course, be evident'that Ido not desire to be strictly limited to the details illustrated as various changes may be made within the spirit of my invention without departing from the scope thereof asdefi ied in the appended claims. In these drawings Figure 1 is'a side elevation, portions of the form and support being shown in section and the form being'in raised position;

Figure 2 is a section similar to Figure 1, but showing, the parts in position for shipment or storage;

Figure 3 is a similar view of the dress cupy when the form is supported upon a table or other similar surface 3 Figure 1 is a bottom view' of the formshown in Figures 1, 2 and 3;

medial plane.

' gives the form an attractive appearancebut Figure 5 is a bottom view of a slightly I I modified construction; a I

Figure 6 is a vertical section of the lower' portion of the form shown in' Figure 5 and Figure 7 is a sectionaldetail. The form is illustrated as including a hollow shell or body 10 preferably formed of papier mach' or other similar comparanon-adjustable, that is it is madeof the detiv'ely light rigid material. This-body is f sired shape and size for the particular user. y

In practice these bodies are made upin a large number of different sizes'and shapes and the purchaser selects one best suited to v her needs. As an important feature of my inventionI provide thebody with two coinparatively low narrow ridges '11 extending vertically along the front and rear surfaces from the lower edgetothe neck'an'd'in the These-are molded in the papier mache at the time the body isniade. The mold in'which the body isformed is preferably provided with a corresponding groove into which the papier machinay enter at the time it is being molded.v These ridges on thebody do not project out sufliciently far to be-noticeable and do not inter- I fere with theproper fitting of a garment to the form, but they are of sufficient height and narrowness to enable the dressmaker or other user' to feel them when passing the hand across the form yTh'ey'may be readily felt even when the garment is fitted to the form so that the user may readily determine the exact center lineofthe front andback and, therefore, more easily make the; garment symmetrical. In practice the pa'pier niache body 18 preferably covered with a thin semi-elastic fabric, such as ersey, which which does not prevent the ridges 11 from being easily felt.

As a further-important feature-of my in-- vention the body of the form is" provided with a bottom wall 12 preferably of "wood and spaced a slight distance above the lower projecting edge 13 of theybody wall, "No part which is permanently secured to this woodbottom extends below said edge so that whenthefform is removed from itssupporting stand it may be placed directly upon table, as shown in Figure 3, and will rest on the edge 13.

The SllppOlillllg stand includes a base 14- having a tube 15 rigidly securedthereto.

Mounted for telescoping movement within this tube is a rod 16, the tube b ing held in any desired relative axial adjustment by a set screw 17, preferably having a butterfly head whereby it may be readily operated by hand. The bottom 12 has a collar 18 project ing upwardly through an aperture therein and held. in place by a flange 19 secured to the underside of the bottom 12 by nails, screws Or other suitable attaching means. The passage through the collar-18 is such as to receive the rod 16 and the thickness-of the flange 19 is such that it does not project below the edge 13 of the body wall. The rod 16 is so connected to the base .12 that it may be moved lengthwise in respect thereto or may be held against such lengthwise movement. As shown, the rod has a pair of spaced apertures therethrough adjacent to its upper end and at a distance apart substantially equal to the length of collar 18 and through these are extended cotter pins 20 and 21. These hold the rod substantially rigid in respect to the body and permit the rod to be pulled up or lowered in respect to the base 1 1 and tube 15, when the said screw 17 is loosened. Thus the form may be supported from the base at any desired elevation by loosening and tightening the set screw 17. The rod 16 is of such length that it projects into the tube 15 for some little distance even when the form is supported at what would ordinarily be the maximum elevation for use. The collar 17 is of such length that it forms an adequate guide and firmly sup ports the form in an upright position.

The base 12 is provided with a second aperture 22 of such size as to receive the tube 15. The collar is preferably placed nearer to the front than to the back of the base and the aperture 12 is usually near the center of the base although these positions will vary with ditlerent shaped forms. When it is desired to store or ship the form the cotter pin 21 may be removed so as to permit the rod 16 to be moved up into the body shov-rn in Figures 2 and 3 and the set screw 17 is removed so that the body may be lowered to the base with the tube 15 projecting up throughthe aperture 22, as shown in Figure 2.-

This brings the bottom wall 12 ot' the term 5 down directly to the base 141- and thus the form when in this: position occupies the minimum space and may be shipped in a box of the minimum size.

By means of my invention 1 provide a very inexpensive but serviceable form which may be sold at a low price due to the im-- proved novel and simplified construction. It willbe apparent that somewhat similar re sults might be secured. by very much more expensive and elaborate construction, but one of the objects of? my invention is toget all of resent? the necessary and desired functions at as low a cost as possible.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction. For instance, it not necessary that the bottom wall 12 of the form he a complete wall shown in Figure 4. Such a complete bottom Wall 12 may be held in place by nails or other suitable screwing means as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. The bottom may be additionally held in place and less material used in making the bottom as shown in Figures 5 and 6. Here the bottom wall 12 is merely in the form of a board extending from the front to the rear and the wall of the body hasitsedge 13 folded over against the under side of the board. This provides additional means for better holding the bottom in place and also provides a Wider andmore serviceable sup porting edge for the body, in case the latter is to be used on a table, as shown in Figure It will be notedirom Figure 6 that the thickness of the edge 18 of the body wall is greater than the thickness of the flange 19. With the partial bottom, as shown in Figure 5 the user may insert the hand into the lower end of the body and remove. the cotter-pin 20 so that the rod may be stored in the tube 15 instead of in the body as shown in Figures 2 and 8. When stored in the bottom, the lower end ofthe rod is preferably slightly deformed, flattened or riveted over so that it cannot pass through the collar 18. Instead of an upper cotter pin 20 the upper end may be riveted over or deformed toprevent withdrawal.

Having thus described invention what 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent is: I

1. A dress form havinga hollow rigid, nonadjustable, one-piece body formed of papier mach and provided with a low ridge, ina tegral with the wall and extending vertically along the medial line.

2. A dress form having a hollow rigid, non-adjustable, one-piece body formed of papier macho, the front and back walls thereof being each provided with a ridge extending vertically along the medial line.

3. A dress form including a form body having a bottom provided with a pair of apertures a base, astandard including a pair of separable telescoping members each shorter than said body one rigid with said base and the other projecting through one off said apertures, means at the upper end of said last mentioned member for preventing the removal of saidmember from said aperture, means for permitting or preventing the sliding movement in said aperture, means for preventing or permitting telescoping of said standard members, said standard members beingseparable whereby one member may be moved upwardly to substantially its entire length in its aperture of said bottom member and the standard member-rigid with said base may be inserted to substantially its full length in the other aperture of said bottom, and said bottom and form body supported on said base.

l. A dress form including a form body having a bottom provided with a pair of apertures, a base, a standard including a pair of separable telescoping members each shorter than said body, one rigid with said base and the other projecting through one of a York and State of New York this 16th day said apertures, means for normally locking the upper end of said second mentioned member against endwise movement through said aperture with the member and the ber rigid with said base may be inserted to v I substantially its full length in the other aperture of said bottom, and said bottom and form body supported on said base.

Signed at New York in thecounty of New of October A. D. 1919.

JAMES McOARTHY. 

